
Note sur la transcription: Les erreurs clairement introduites par le typographe ont été corrigées. L'orthographe d'origine a été conservée et n'a pas été harmonisée.
In this exhaustive chronicle, the author weaves together court records, inquisitorial manuals, and folklore to map the shifting image of the witch from the medieval sage to the condemned figure of the early modern era. Drawing on sources ranging from German and English archives to the legends collected by the Brothers Grimm, the narrative grounds mythic imagination in hard evidence. The result is a scholarly yet readable tapestry that traces how legal, religious and cultural forces forged the fear of women who wielded knowledge.
Beyond the statistics of trials, the book explores the deep roots of female creativity, portraying the witch as a continuation of ancient priestesses, sibyls and healers who once guided communities. The author's lyrical prose highlights the paradox of reverence and persecution, showing how the same qualities praised in myth became weapons in the hands of a fearful clergy. Listeners will find a compelling portrait of a society wrestling with its own anxieties, and a reminder that the legacy of those once branded witches still echoes in modern attitudes toward women and science.
Language
fr
Duration
~9 hours (540K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Laurent Vogel, Hélène de Mink, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr)
Release date
2012-11-25
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1798–1874
A leading voice of 19th-century French history, he turned the story of France into something vivid, emotional, and deeply human. Best known for his sweeping multi-volume histories, he helped shape the modern idea of the nation’s past.
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